Last Wednesday, ACC Commissioner John Swofford returned to his old stomping ground to speak about what he’s done in his time as a leader in college athletics at a Chapel Hill Sports Club meeting.
And he's done a lot.
Swofford, who graduated from UNC in 1971, donned a Tar Heel jersey when he played quarterback and defensive back for the football team. He then progressed to serving as the youngest UNC athletic director in the nation at the time from 1980 to 1997, and then continued his service in college athletics when he became ACC Commissioner in 1997.
At the meeting, Swofford offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of his day-to-day responsibilities. He said that the ability to facilitate consensus in a group of schools with conflicting interests is his most important role as commissioner.
“You ask (these schools) to compete with each other at the very highest level, day in and day out," he said. "Certainly on the field and on the court, but they’re also competing with each other for everything from sponsorships to recruiting.
“And you’re asking them to come into a board room together and make decisions that are in the best interest of the whole, meaning the conference. And that could be very challenging.”
Swofford also talked about the conference’s decision to expand the league from nine to 15 schools under his tenure, and he explained why the expansion was an important step for the ACC to sign a TV contract through 2035-36 with ESPN.
"We had to get bigger," he said. "We had to have more television sets. We had to get better at football ... as a nine member league, we would have never had that opportunity, and we needed that opportunity to keep up with our colleague conferences from a revenue-generation standpoint."
CHSC is a membership organization since 1995 that promotes collegiate and high school athletics in Orange County. On top of hosting guests to speak at monthly meetings at Squid's Restaurant, Market and Oyster Bar in Chapel Hill, the organization donates $250 to $500 to local elementary and high schools.
